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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: clip · wound · swing · lie · fork · pop · mate · march

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. pop — music
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. mate — a partner
  5. mate — a friend
  6. lie — to recline
  7. clip — for paper
  8. march — music
  9. clip — a video
  10. clip — to cut
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. mate — to breed
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. wound — an injury
  15. wound — an injury
  16. swing — in golf
  17. march — the month
  18. pop — to visit
  19. pop — soda
  20. march — the month
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. swing — to play on
  23. fork — in a road
  24. swing — music

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com